{"id":9378,"date":"2025-02-19T17:32:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T22:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/non-classifiee\/a-cybersecurity-audit-for-smes\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T17:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:39:40","slug":"a-cybersecurity-audit-for-smes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/blog\/a-cybersecurity-audit-for-smes\/","title":{"rendered":"A practical cybersecurity audit for SMEs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1823\">When a company wants to strengthen its cybersecurity, its service provider often suggests following standards such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2. <strong>&#8220;It&#8217;s not NASA here&#8221;,<\/strong> a phrase we often hear when talking about security budgets. And it&#8217;s not untrue: aiming for 100% compliance is not always the most effective strategy for SMEs. <\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember1824\">The 80\/20 effect in cybersecurity<\/h3>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In my experience, <strong>the first 80% of compliance covers the essentials<\/strong>: MFA enabled, access management, network segmentation, effective backups, proactive monitoring&#8230; These measures are well documented, proven and quickly deployable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The last 20% of a standard<\/strong> concerns more technical and specific optimizations. Their cost in terms of time and resources soars, <strong>without significantly reducing the real risks<\/strong>. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1826\"><strong>Case in point:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Enabling MFA and restricting non-essential access <strong>blocks 99% of cyber-attacks <\/strong>involving credential theft.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Implementing access management based on the principle of least privilege, with automated quarterly reviews of user rights, <strong>requires time, complex integration and adaptation of internal processes<\/strong>. Yet in many cases, simplified access management and good account hygiene are all that&#8217;s needed to effectively reduce risks. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember1828\">Optimizing safety without excess<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1829\">Companies need to prioritize <strong>the measures that offer the best return on investment<\/strong>. A rapid, targeted audit can identify <strong>essential protection<\/strong>, without wasting time and resources on complex requirements that bring only marginal security gains. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1830\"><strong>By concentrating on the essentials<\/strong>, a high level of protection is quickly achieved, <strong>without unnecessarily increasing costs and operations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ember1831\">Noxio Secure Score (NSS): 80% impact, 20% effort<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1832\">Our partners at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noxio.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Noxio<\/a> have designed the <strong>Noxio Secure Score (NSS<\/strong>), an audit structured into <strong>12 zones and 47 key points<\/strong> that enables you to<strong>quickly assess your cybersecurity posture<\/strong> and <strong>prioritize the most effective actions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1833\">\u2714 <strong>Rapid assessment<\/strong>: in just a few hours, get a clear picture of your security strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1834\">\u2714 <strong>Aligned with best practice<\/strong>: based on our <strong>field experience<\/strong>, <strong>ISO 27001<\/strong> standards and <strong>insurers<\/strong>&#8216; requirements.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1835\"><strong>\u2714 Investment optimization<\/strong>: focus your budget on <strong>measures that really reduce risk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1836\">\u2714 <strong>Balance between protection and costs<\/strong>: <strong>no over-protection, just effective, pragmatic actions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1837\"><strong>Why rely on the Noxio Secure Score?<\/strong> Because <strong>the majority of attacks can be prevented<\/strong> with the right basic measures. <strong>They&#8217;ve identified them for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember1838\">\ud83d\udccc  <strong>Don&#8217;t waste time on secondary requirements. Focus on the essentials and take control of your cybersecurity today. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most cyberattacks can be prevented by implementing a few essential security measures. Instead of pursuing costly full compliance, SMEs should focus on the controls that deliver the greatest impact. The Noxio Secure Score (NSS) helps organizations quickly assess their cybersecurity posture, identify priority risks and invest where it matters most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[77,64],"class_list":["post-9378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-cybersecurite","tag-cybersecurity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9378"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9681,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378\/revisions\/9681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}